Warehouses can be dirty, grimy buildings, with all sorts of pollutants and particles floating around. While we realize this, many people – laborers and management alike – still do not fully comprehend the adverse effects of poor air quality, particularly in large warehouses.
Effects of Poor Indoor Air Quality
The effects of poor indoor air quality can be seen on your workers – often poor quality can cause increased cases of asthma and other illnesses. Poor air quality can led to chronic illnesses, causing repetitive days lost. Even worse, it can cause distraction or disturbances on your manufacturing floor – these could lead to accidents, which would be much worse.
Poor air quality can also cause low morale – workers who feel ill at work, distracted, or who feel they are getting sick more often than normal will dread coming in to the place that they feel is making them this way.
Causes of Poor Indoor Air Quality
There are lots of causes of poor indoor air quality, but not all of them are severe, or found in industrial and commercial settings.
- Smoke and exhaust – Secondhand smoke, smoke from machinery, and exhaust from equipment will all put pollutants into the air and lower the quality of the air.
- Mold – Mold mildew will release spores into the air, spores that will cause allergic reactions in many folks.
- Volatile Organic Compounds – This covers a wide variety of chemicals found in manufacturing processes, construction, and other labor. Paint and paint strippers, gasoline, adhesives, pesticides, and more are covered in this category – anything that emits noxious or dangerous chemical gases.
- Carbon dioxide – Humans themselves can emit gases that will cause indoor air quality to become worse. When we exhale, we put carbon dioxide back into the environment. An excess of carbon dioxide will cause drowsiness, headaches, and lack of concentration, all of which is dangerous in manufacturing facilities and warehouses.
- Bacteria – Airborne bacteria circulates quite easily in a contained environment, which means if one person gets sick, you can run the risk of the bacteria spreading.
What You Can Do to Improve Indoor Air Quality in your Warehouse
- Make sure your warehouse is operating at positive air pressure: To keep pollutants out, the HVAC system is often set so that there is a minute air pressure difference between the inside of the building and the outside. This ensures that, when doors are opened, the air flows out, preventing airborne articles from entering the building.
- Use demand controlled ventilation: Using sensors, your HVAC system ensures that air is being replaced to provide balance. As it is, most ventilation replaces air at a consistent rate – meaning that increases is in the number of workers or amounts of pollutants being put into the air are not being accounted for in the replacing of air to keep oxygen levels up.
- Proper cleaning: Much of the risk of particulates from mold, bacteria, dander, and dust can be reduced or eliminate simply by consistent cleaning. Properly cleaning and disinfecting areas where mold has been spotted is the most important aspect of eliminating these common pollutants.
- Change power sources: Many pieces of equipment that run on gasoline, kerosene or propane can be converted to battery power or electric. Forklifts are prime for being switched over, as they can charge overnight.
- Powerful exhaust fans: These are particularly helpful at pushing out large amounts of pollutants and particulates on demand. Shuttered fans keep the outside out when the fans are not in use.
- Air filters: To stop particulates from re-entering the work area, you’ll need to make sure to use high-quality filters to remove as many pollutants as possible, and to change these filters regularly. Poor-quality or dirty filters will cause pollutants and particulates to be recirculated.
So check your air quality periodically, and consider taking steps to make your warehouse or manufacturing facility safe and healthy. It’s not something you can check once and be satisfied – things will change over time. Your workers and your lungs will thank you!